Process of producing a combustible charge for use in internal combustion engines



July 21, 1931. D. BALAcHowsKY ET AL PROCESS OF PRODUCING A GOMBUSTIBLECHARGE FOR USE] IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Original Filed Jan. 26,192'? Patented July 21, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DMITRYBALACI-IWSKY AND PHILIPPE CAIRE, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNORS TO SOCIETEBREVETS CATALEX, OF GENEVA, SWITZERLAND PROCESS OF PRODUCING ACOMBUSTIBLE CHARGE FOR- USE IN INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES 7 Originalapplication filed January 26, 1927, Serial No. 163,816, and in FranceJanuary 27, 1926. Divided 1 and this application filed October 10, 1928.Serial No. 311,663.

- This invention relates to a process for producing a combustible chargefor use in mternal combustion engines, of the kind in which a richmixture of hydrocarbon and air 5 is heated and agitated and then mixedwith additional air.

This application is a continuation in part of our earlier application,Serial No. 40,389, filed June 29, 1925.

The process according to the invention consists in atomizing thehydrocarbon with a quantity of air depending upon the quantity of carbonproduced by subsequent catalysis, and then dividing the rich mixture ascompletely as possible by causing it to pass through tubes, formed ofone of the metals which are known, when heated, to efl'ect the catalyticdecomposition of hydrocarbons, each tube containing a rod made of one ofthe metals aforesaid and twisted or otherwise formed so as to give agyratory or whirling motion to the rich mixture. The said tubes areheated by exhaust gases to 300350 (1; and after having passed throughthem, the mixture is given a further whirling motion, and secondary airis added in suflicient quantity to produce a combustible mixture.

The atomizing of the liquid hydrocarbon is effected with only a part ofthe air necessary for the combustion of the charge, and the secondaryair which is required is not added until the initial mixture hasundergone catalysis. The air contained in the initial mixture acts tooxidize immediately the carbon which is liberated when cracking takesplace and which would otherwise be apt to deposit, the oxidized carbonbeing carriedaway in the gas stream. The secondary air, as will beunderstood, restores in the mix- 40 ture the proper proportion ofcombustion or oxidizing agent.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional Viewof a form of apparatus for carrying out the process constituting theinvention, and Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on line 2-2, Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, a and a indicate two hollow heads of spiral or coilform, similar to the casing of a centrifugal pump or a fan,

connected-together by means of a bundle of while breaking up the gascurrent into fine,

thin streams, shocks of liquid particles and globules that are notyetvaporized and decomposed against the walls.

The mixture of air and heavy hydrocarbon coming from anordinarycarburetor enters the right-hand coil or (the inlet of whichdoes not appear in Figs. 1 and 2 because it opens into the coil in frontof the plane of Fig. 1),

whirls about in said coil and enters the tube nest or bundle b, and thenpasses into the outlet coil a which it leaves by a passage or conduit (1connected to the engine. The circulation of the mixturethrough thecatalyzer is effected, of course, by the suction of the engine, and theunit formed by the two coils, heads or casings and the tube nest orbundle is heated externally by the hot exhaust gases from the enginewhich enter the catalyzer through the inlet 8 and leave it by way of theoutlet 8'. The catalyzer itself should, by preference, be constructed ofmetal having as intense a catalyzing action as possible; iron or copper,for example, as mentioned above.

In operation, and to eltect atomization of the hydrocarbon, an amount ofair is used which is less than that required for combustion of thecharge, as has already been stated, but which, nevertheless, must besufiicient to oxidize the carbon liberated at the moment of cracking.The segondary air subsequently added is'supplied through a pipe orpassage a that opens tangentially into the outlet coil a, as representedin Fig. 2, so that the mixture will have undergone catalyticdecomposition as well as an intense agitation (produced by the twistedrods 6') by the time the secondary air is admitted to it. Hence, theamount of mixture initially treated is minimized, so to say, and thereis no danger of it cooling the apparatus. The

secondary air thu's supplied to the mixture may be either hot or cold.

No claim is made herein for the apparatus employed for carrying out theprocess above described, such apparatus forming the subject of our priorpending application No. 163,816, filed January 26, 1927, of which'thepresent case is a division.

We claim as our invention v 1. 'A process of producing a combustiblecharge for use in internal combustion engines, comprising the steps ofatomizing a liquid hydrocarbon with only a part of the air required forcombustion of the charge; subjecting the mixture of air andhydrocarbonto a stirring action while dividing it into thin streams;subjecting-such streams to the action of a catalyst heated to asuitabletemperature of approximately 300 to 350 C. to catalyze the hydrocarbon,whereby the air of the mixture oxidizes partially the products liberatedlay-catalysis and addsufficient secondary air to support combustionafter the initial mixture has undergone catalysis.

2. A process of producing a combustible charge for use in internalcombustion engines, comprising the steps of atomizing a liquidhydrocarbon with a quantity of air less than that required forcombustion of the charge; sub 'ecting the mixture of air and hydrocarbonto a stirring action in the presence of a catalyst heated to a suitabletemperature of approximately 300 to 350 (1, whereby the air of themixture oxidizes partiallythe product liberated by catalysis; and addingsuflicient secondary air to support combustion after the initial mixturehas undergone catalysis.

In testimony whereof We afiix our signatures.

- DMITRY BALACHOWSKY.

PHILIPPE CAIRE.

